The present invention relates to electric outlet, and more particularly to such an electric outlet which comprises a plurality of rotary socket bodies for receiving a respective electric plug that can be separately rotated to shift the respective electric plug between "ON" position and "OFF" position.
An electric outlet is generally comprises a plurality of socket bodies for receiving a respective electric plug, and an On/Off switch controlled to switch on/off the socket bodies. Because the socket bodies are fixedly connected in series to the electric wire through the On/Off switch, the socket bodies are simultaneously turned on or off when the On/Off switch is switched, that is the socket bodies can not be separately controlled. FIG. 6 shows a conventional electric outlet which eliminates this problem. This structure of electric outlet is comprised of a casing, a cover shell, two metal conductive strips, a grounding strip, and a plurality of rotary socket bodies. The metal conductive strips each have a plurality of longitudinally spaced through holes respectively coupled to respective locating rods inside the casing. After installation of the metal conductive strips, the locating rods are infused to form a respective head, causing the metal conductive strips to be firmly secured in place. The grounding strip is mounted in a longitudinal groove inside the casing, and covered with an insulative strip at the top. The rotary socket bodies each have metal contact elements fastened thereto by screw means. When in use, the socket bodies can be separately rotated between "ON" and "OFF" positions. This structure of electric outlet is complicated, therefore its manufacturing cost is high. Furthermore, the electric outlet is vibrated or receives a downward pressure, the metal contact elements of the rotary socket bodies tend to be forced out of position, causing a contact error.
The present invention has been accomplished to provide an electric outlet which eliminates the aforesaid drawbacks. It is one object of the present invention to provide an electric outlet with multiple socket bodies which allows the socket bodies thereof to be separately rotated between "ON" position and "OFF" position. It is another object of the present invention to provide an electric outlet which has a simple structure, and is easy to be assembled. The achieve these and other objects of the present invention, there is provided an electric outlet comprised of a rectangular, top-open casing having a longitudinal row of male coupling elements on the middle and two longitudinal rows of locating blocks at two opposite sides of the longitudinal row of male coupling elements; a cover shell covered on the casing, the cover shell having a plurality of socket holes longitudinally arranged in a line; a plurality of rotary socket bodies respectively mounted in the casing, the rotary socket bodies each having a bottom female coupling means respectively coupled to the male coupling elements of the casing, a flat circular head respectively inserted into the socket holes on the cover shell, and two metal blade insertion slots and one grounding prong insertion slot provided at the flat circular head and adapted to receive the metal blades and grounding prong of an electric plug; a grounding strip longitudinally mounted in the casing on the middle for connection to the grounding wire of the electric wire to be used with the electric outlet, the grounding strip comprising a plurality of longitudinally spaced through holes, which receive the male coupling elements of the casing, and electric contact means respectively disposed at two opposite sides of each through hole and longitudinally aligned for receiving the grounding prong of an electric plug; and two metal conductive strips mounted in the casing and longitudinally arranged in parallel at two opposite sides of the grounding strip for connection to the hot wire and neutral wire of the electric wire to be used with the electric outlet, the metal conductive strips each having a plurality of longitudinally spaced coupled units respectively coupled to the locating blocks of the casing; wherein when the metal blades and grounding prong of an electric plug are inserted into the metal blade insertion slots and grounding prong insertion slot of one of the rotary socket bodies, the rotary socket body can be rotated on the respective male coupling element inside the casing and retained between "ON" position to hold the metal blades and grounding prong of the installed electric plug in contact with the coupling units of the metal conductive strips and the electric contact means of the ground stirp, and "OFF" position to disconnect the metal blades and grounding prong of the installed electric plug from the coupling units of the metal condutive strips and the electric contact means of the grounding strip.